Advent Continues -The Inescapable Love Of God, Lighting The Candle Of Love! Series

Sermon – Advent continues -The Inescapable Love of God

Scripture: Hosea 11:1-12 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt. But the more I called to him, the farther he moved from me, offering sacrifices to the images of Baal, and burning incense to idols. I myself taught Israel how to walk, leading him along by the hand. But he doesn’t know or even care that it was I who took care of him. I led Israel along with my ropes of kindness and love. I lifted the yoke from his neck, and I myself stooped to feed him. “But since my people refuse to return to me, they will return to Egypt and will be forced to serve Assyria. War will swirl through their cities; their enemies will crash through their gates. They will destroy them, trapping them in their own evil plans. For my people are determined to desert me. They call me the Most High, but they don’t truly honor me. “Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim?

My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows. No, I will not unleash my fierce anger. I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you, and I will not come to destroy. For someday the people will follow me. I, the Lord, will roar like a lion. And when I roar, my people will return trembling from the west.

11 Like a flock of birds, they will come from Egypt. Trembling like doves, they will return from Assyria. And I will bring them home again,” says the Lord.”

Introduction: The Book of Hosea is a story of The Inescapable Love of God. The story could have been the preacher and the prostitute. As I thought about the messed-up life of Hosea this week, I thought about the Jerry Springer show and the kind of programs he used to air. It has been years since I have watch an episode, but the kind of topics on his show always a big “Surprise” to somebody. Somebody was Cheating.” Listen at some of the captions from his show: “Angela will tell her longtime boyfriend that she’s been cheating on him and now she’s pregnant! Despite all this, she’s confident he’ll stay with her.” “Give Back My Lover — Willie claims to love his fiancé, but he has some bad news for her. He’s been cheating… and now his mistress is pregnant!” “Shocking Confessions! — Carl broke up with her fiancé because she wanted to date his sister!” “Prostitution Sex Scandals — Lisa has secretly been working as an escort to help pay for her wedding. She likes her new job and she’s here today to tell her fiancé all about it!” “Baby Come Back To Me — Becky dumped her husband for his best friend, Josh!! Now she’s secretly seeing her husband again!” Well, you get the idea. Actually, I was surprised to see how closely the topics of all those shows paralleled the story of Hosea. Gomer would have fit right into the Jerry Springer setting. The show could have been called: “The Prophet who Married A Prostitute.” The byline would go something like this: “Gomer cheats on Hosea and three of his children belong to three other men.” After selling herself to everyone in town, Gomer ends up as a slave. Her husband, Hosea, eventually buys her back. He claims that he knew she would be unfaithful to him in the beginning, but God told him to marry her. Then God told him to buy her out of slavery and love her again.”

The book of Hosea is the most shocking book in the Old Testament. Few people can imagine what it would be like to be married to a woman like Gomer. She had no inner moral compass — no restraints. You could never trust her. You would know that she was always looking for some excitement. You would see her invite the attentions of other men and then deny it vehemently. The ability to make a commitment would never be a part of her character. She would disappear for days at a time, and you would not know where she was. She would cruelly mock you and you would be the laughingstock of the town. She was full of moral wickedness.

It has happened to other people besides Hosea, but Hosea went into the relationship with his eyes wide open. He knew what kind of woman she was, but God had asked him to marry her; and he willingly did so, despite the enormous pain it would bring into his life. Sometimes God gave a prophet like Hosea words to speak to the people of Israel and Judah. He would give them words warning of impending judgment so they could be spared by giving up their sin and following God again. At other times he would give them words of love to win back the affections of his people. He would remind them of all his love had done for them and tell them how much he wanted them to come back home to him. But sometimes words failed, and God had to resort to a different kind of communication. He would give the prophet a message to act out. The prophet’s actions would be a living drama playing out the message of God in a dramatic way.